Star Wars Novelist Slays Twitter in Hilarious Horror Villain Exchange

Two authors’ conversation about how to be a proper horror movie slasher slays Twitter. Author Chuck Wendig has written just about everything. He is known for the Star Wars:Aftermathtrilogy of novels which tell the story of what happened between the events of Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But Wendig has also penned a number of original novels, as well as screenplays, role playing games, short stories, non-fiction books, and comic books. He even has a blog where he dispenses writing advice – Terribleminds.

Meanwhile, Sam Sykes has published six novels himself. The son of Outlander author Diana Gabaldon, Sykes is best known for his fantasy series Aeons’ Gate. He is also rather active on Twitter, where he seems to tweet whatever funny thoughts pop into his head and give him a good chuckle. So yesterday, when Skyes tweeted to Wendig to ask for help, it could have been for advice – one writer to another – or it could have been something amusing.

It started out innocently enough, with Sykes reminding Wendig that he recently became a camp counselor and telling him about “some kind of crazed serial killer roaming the grounds.” Wendig acknowledged that it’s the sort of thing which happens sometimes, and set about figuring out which character type Sykes filled. It didn’t take too long before they figured out that the killer was Sykes himself, due to him apparently stealing an evil mask from a corpse and putting it on.

From that point on, Wendig was all about the math. It’s typically the last person a killer goes after who kills them, so as long as Sykes leaves at least two potential victims alive, he should survive. Otherwise, he will be killed by the last person and won’t come back until lightning strikes his grave in two or three years. As to whether Sykes takes his advice – read the exchange on Twitter. It’s hilarious, entertaining, and certainly a fun read for slasher movie fans.

Summer camp was a popular setting for slasher films in the 1980s, with movies like The Burning and Sleepaway Camp. But the ultimate summer camp horror movie is Friday the 13th and sequels, even though many of those sequels moved onto other locations such as Manhattan and outer space. And as Sykes and Wendig reminded us, it remains a favorite trope in the genre. Be sure to read the entire exchange. It’s a scream.